Filming underway of RSC The Winter’s Tale for BBC debut
Filming was underway last week on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage of the postponed production of The Winter’s Tale.
It is the first time in its history that an RSC production will get its world premiere on BBC television.
Directed by Erica Whyman, RSC deputy artistic director, The Winter’s Tale will be broadcast on BBC Four around Shakespeare’s birthday in April (transmission date to be confirmed), and will then be available on BBC iPlayer. The Winter’s Tale film adaptation forms part of BBC Lights Up, an unprecedented season of plays for BBC TV and radio, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative. The RSC will also stream the production to subscribers, members and patrons based outside the UK following the BBC broadcast.
Featuring the entire cast due to appear in the postponed 2020 production, The Winter’s Tale has been re-rehearsed adhering to strict safety measures. It has been adapted for the television broadcast by the original creative team, with screen direction by Bridget Caldwell. Set across a 16-year span from the 1953 coronation to the moon landings, this production imagines a world where the ghosts of fascist Europe collide with horrors reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale, before washing up on a joyful seashore. With set design by Tom Piper, costumes by Madeleine Girling, and music by Isobel Waller-Bridge, the cast includes Ben Caplan as Camillo, Andrew French as Polixenes, Amanda Hadingue as Paulina, Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Hermione and Joseph Kloska as Leontes.
See Thursday's Herald this week for our interview with John Wyver, director of screen productions at the RSC, who talks about filming Shakespeare and The Winter’s Tale.